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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 4:14PM
#1
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How did your DnD group come to be? Did you join a group, and later become the DM, or did you and your friends start the group and decided you'd be the DM?
I'm curious because I am having a difficult time starting one.
I'm a freshmen in college, and with being so far away from home, my old group is no longer together. When I first got to the university, I thought I'd try to join a group. This is college after all; there has to be at least on group on campus looking for another player. Well, I looked. Everywhere. And I cannot find one. So, I thought I'd start my own! I've DMed before and I loved it.
I posted an ad on Craigslist about my new group. I made a ton of sweet-looking full-color posters complete with information about how to get a hold of me and I put them all over campus. It's been a while now. I check every day- my posters are still up. People always walk by them. But I haven't got one response. Actually, that's a lie. A really old guy responded to my Craigslist post, even though it specifically said that I was looking for other university students.
I feel like most people would give me the advice to "ask your friends to play". Well, that's part of it. I haven't made many friends yet. I have not met anyone who plays DnD, or Magic, or likes anime, or plays video games. I'm not completely alone- I am a part of the karate association in this area and I have some friends from the studio (I am a music major), just no one who is interested in exploring some dungeons and fighting some dragons.
I'm starting to get very discouraged. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions of how to get a group off the ground. Any advice is very appreciated.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 4:35PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jul 20, 2005
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Did you put a phone number on your posters?
I started a group once by blanketing a fairly small campus with flyers and I got ten people asking to join in two days. Months later I would still get calls about it from totally random people who saw one of the flyers that evidently didn't get torn down. But they all called me, every single one. Nobody ever e-mailed me.
Also, did you only put them on the message boards? Because if so, that's your mistake. Stick 'em everywhere, any time someone isn't looking at you just slap one up. It's prrrrrobably against the rules, but nobody will do anything beyond tear it down. And that'll take a day or three at the soonest.
"One skilled at battle takes a stand in the ground of no defeat
And so does not lose the enemy's defeat.
Therefore, the victorious military is first victorious and after that does battle.
The defeated military first does battle and after that seeks victory."
-- the Art of War
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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 4:37PM
#3
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Things were a lot different when I started my group, especially where D&D was concerned. It was....ohhh...a bit short of 30 years ago now. I was new in town, and didn't know anyone. While I was walking down the street, I exchanged greetings with a very tall, thin fellow about my own age. He just happened to have a book in his hand; a fantasy novel I'd read some months before. We got to talking about the book, and about 20 minutes later I asked him if he'd ever played D&D. He'd never heard of it, of course, but he got interested when I explained the concept. That evening we played a short introductory session, and he enjoyed himself. A few days later he asked if he could invite a couple of his friends over to play, and the rest is history.
Boraxe wrote: "Knowledge of the rules and creativity are great attributes for a DM, but knowing when to cut loose and when to hold back, when to follow the rules and when to discard them, in order to enhance the enjoyment of the game is the most important DM skill of all."
Keeper of the Sacred Kitty Bowl of the House of Trolls.
Resident Kitteh-napper.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 5:34PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Mar 28, 2010
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posted some ads on meetup which helped and some more in the looking for group section of these very forums. Found some players and have been gaming with them ever since. Before that I got into DnD via a teacher I had in high school, played with friends and still do.
"Non nobis Domine Sed nomini tuo da gloriam" "I wish for death not because I want to die, but because I seek the war eternal"
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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 6:24PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Oct 24, 2001
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I started the current 4e group I DM for (7 players plus me) when our previous DM left for the west coast. The group has grown by three after it shrank by two. I simply asked the players to invite a friend they would want to play with.
I once started a group by asking one friend to play, and asking that friend to invite one and "pass it on". When nine people showed up on the first night, I laid out some ground rules: no evil PCs, no XP (the party levels as a group between story arcs), and no psionics. The next session had six players and we were golden. That group lasted 18 months in a 3.5 campaign.
Here are the PHB essentia, in my opinion: - Three Basic Rules (p 11)
- Power Types and Usage (p 54)
- Skills (p178-179)
- Feats (p 192)
- Rest and Recovery (p 263)
- All of Chapter 9 [Combat] (p 264-295)
A player needs to read the sections for building his or her character -- race, class, powers, feats, equipment, etc. But those are PC-specific. The above list is for everyone, regardless of the race or class or build or concept they are playing.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 8:13PM
#6
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You seem to have taken the most important step, being willing to DM! Finding the DM is the hardest. My current group is me and 3 friends who had never played RPGs before. That's the "ask your friends to play" approach you mention. I'm DMing for the first time out of necessity and I'm my favorite DM already (bar Chris perkins  ) Did you try putting up a poster on your university's notice board? Those boards received a lot of attention in my university and anyone could put anything up. Also, are you on some mailing list? I played some Mage: the Awakening during college because a classmate of mine sent an email to the class announcing he was looking to form a group. I'd say you have the freedom to do that in a mailing list for students only. An email would be way more effective than Craigslist, just make sure such an email wouldn't break the list's email policy. Anyway, you'll find people who share your interests soon enough, just don't be ashamed of bringing up the geeky things you love in conversations, it's the only way you'll know you're talking to a fellow nerd :P even good friends who are not into RPGs will be interested just for the company and time with friends. It took me 2 years being on the same major and doing classes together before I really struck a friendship with my best friend from college.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 9:18PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2004
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MeetUp.com worked for me. There was a group that met at a local mall, and I gamed with them a couple of times. Then the venue moved to a game store. I took a turn DMing whomever would show up, and I was in the middle of running Shadows of the Last War when 4th Edition was announced. Three of the regular players in that game and I decided to get together to try the new edition. We've gamed together ever since, along with a couple of others, up until a month or so ago when one of the original group had to leave.
[N]o difference is less easily overcome than the difference of opinion about semi-abstract questions. - L. Tolstoy
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7 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 9:27PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2010
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My current group, i met them from a gaming community thru IRC. There are several 4e players on that community (and other PnP RPGs too.) A person from that community actually DM a open campaing for teaching people to play the game every week, he is probably the RPG player i know with most experience, he did started with OD&D back on the day, but he actually played & DMed alot of diferent game systems during the years (i think his favorite system is champions, he prefer classless systems)
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7 months ago ::
Nov 09, 2012 - 1:54AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Jul 13, 2012
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That's crazy to hear that you haven't had any replies to your posters on campus, I would think you'd get atleast a couple responses. I can only suggest you keep pushing the posters, give them a wide variety of ways to contact you, and perhaps advertise that you're more thna happy to teach new players and that's fun!
As for how My group got started; It had been about two years since I had been with a group, and while hanging out with a bunch of close, old friends dnd got brought up somehow, and most of them had either never played or played once, or a very long time ago, they all expressed a lot of interest in trying it out, and bam we had a full, tight, close knit group, so we're pretty fortunate.
That's a shame you've been having so much trouble, especially on a campus, it's almost bewildering.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 09, 2012 - 7:16AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Aug 23, 2012
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Make sure you're putting your flyer in the right places on your campus. Near any library, computer lab, large student meeting areas, and any places to get food. As they say in real estate: location, location, location.
My most recent group was formed when friends: A, B, and C of my friends D and E wanted to start a game up. Since D and E knew I had some experience with the system they asked me to help and join in, and after 2 sessions a week for a year it's turned out alright.
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